Cholesterol is a fatlike substance that has great physiological importance. It is one of the nonessential nutrients-that is, it is found in all foods from animal source, and our bodies can also manufacture it.
Scientists have found that there is a relationship between high levels of cholesterol in the blood and increased risk of heart disease. Cholesterol is a major component of the plaque that can build up on the walls of blood vessels, including the vessels that supply the heart muscle, so that the blood vessels become narrowed and may eventually close off completely.
What is not precisely understood, however, is how much cholesterol in the diet (consumed, in eggs and meat, for example) raises the level of blood cholesterol, and whether reducing dietary cholesterol significantly reduces the risk of heart disease.
It is not as if the cholesterol in our breakfast eggs and bacon immediately migrates to our arteries and begins to clog them up. Other factors in our diet or body metabolism, including exercise, may affect how much of the cholesterol we eat ultimately becomes part of our bodies and subjects us to increased risk of heeart disease.
